Here’s a slightly Orwellian way to check whether your students may have plagiarized part of their essays: the Chrome extension Draftback, which plays back the revision history of any Google doc you can edit—down to the keystroke.

That was just one of the many extensions, add-ons and hacks for the Google ecosystem shared at a pair of sessions packed to the rafters at the Spring CUE 2018 conference in Palm Springs, Calif. The tools span everything from music to time-saving shortcuts and supports for struggling students or those with learning disabilities. Check out these educators’ top picks or explore a list of attendee favorites here.

The increasing popularity and endless benefits of edtech are changing the face of education. Teachers need to begin embracing these changes to improve the consistency and quality of the education system. As these technological advances continue, it’s time for us to get rid of anti-tech teachers who are holding tight to the traditional classroom model.

Why should we make a move to get rid of anti-tech teachers? Take a look at few of these convincing arguments that demonstrate just how important technology in education is becoming.

To assess the credibility of the information they find online, students shouldn’t start with a close reading of the given website. Rather, they should turn to the power of the web to determine its trustworthiness.

"Every teacher I’ve worked with talks about the sanctity of the “lightbulb moment”--when a concept really clicks for a student and they can engage learning with confidence. One of the many reasons I’ve become passionate about teaching computational thinking (CT) is that well-planned and well-executed CT curricula produces those moments around rigorous concepts, generally disguised in fun. In doing so, CT helps students access complex concepts through activities or principles they’re already familiar with.

At Green Dot schools in Washington, these concepts are used to create deeper understanding in any and every subject area, from art to English Arts. Here are just a couple of the CT projects students are working on:"

"As I begin to wrap up my studies in EDTC 6106 Educational Technology Leadership for the DEL program our last inquiry asked us to explore; what does the ideal technology-rich professional learning program look like? From there I began to contemplate Computational Thinking again which is a common thread throughout my studies in SPU’s DEL program. As Google for Education defines it computational thinking (ct) is “is a problem-solving process that includes a number of characteristics, such as logically ordering and analyzing data and creating solutions using a series of ordered steps (or algorithms), and dispositions, such as the ability to confidently deal with complexity and open-ended problems. CT is essential to the development of computer applications, but it can also be used to support problem-solving across all disciplines, including math, science, and the humanities. Students who learn CT across the curriculum can begin to see a relationship between subjects as well as between school and life outside of the classroom.”

In previous years, we celebrated Pi Day (14th March) with the Pi Rap and other musical attempts. In 2013, S1 convinced me that we should perform the PiMCA and this is the result. Aren't these kids awesome?! So is π o

Last night I answered an email from a reader who was looking for a free alternative to Tellagami. Tellagami hasn't been updated to work with iOS 11 so if you've updated your iPad, the app won't work. Tellagami says that an update is coming, but I'm not holding my breath waiting for that. They said the same thing about the Android app and eventually just removed the Android app from Google Play. So if you're looking for a free iPad app to use to create animated videos, try one of the following three options.

Web designers are required to think through problems in a way that computers can understand, hence “computational thinking” is an indispensable skill set for them to have. It offers systematic tools needed to solve complex assignments from clients.

Computational thinking enables web designers to break down a problem, spot patterns in data, identify and focus on absolutely necessary aspects of an assignment, while leaving aside unnecessary information that will bog down the process.

As a tool for thorough planning, it avoids costly mistakes that come as a result of rushing to complete a project without having considered different facets of the problem at hand.

Computational thinking runs through all aspects and functions of 21st century business. It is an indispensable problem solving skill for web designers who eventually have to represent solutions in a language that computers can understand and process. Remember, computational thinking involves the following steps: Decomposition: breaking down a problem into its component parts. Pattern Recognition: identifying similarities in component parts of a problem. Abstraction: focusing on important general information and leaving aside information that is irrelevant to the solution. Algorithm writing: writing the code that creates the intended solution. Writing step by step instruction that can be read and processed by the computer. The instructions are written using relevant information gathered from decomposing, pattern recognition and abstraction. Evaluation: finding bugs in the algorithm and correcting them to ensure it works without any glitches.

3D-printing is a revolution, and this new design of a home is changing the game for global poverty and architecture. the construction process is simple, the structure is sturdy and the home can be executed for a fraction of the going rate, in a fraction of the time. while many other 3D-printed homes exist, none includes such clear advantages as this one for social-work. printed with cement by a vulcan printer, the shelter can be printed for $10,000 in as little time as 12 hours, but it is projected to soon cost only $4,000. this has the potential to supercharge the production of affordable housing in areas of dire poverty that can’t produces shelters fast enough.

What does Possum Magic by Mem Fox have to do with computational thinking and digital technologies? Possum Magic by Mem Fox is a story about a magic grandma that makes her grandson Hush become invisible.

To solve the problem they travel Australia looking for ways to make Hush visible again. Luckily the problem is solved for Hush as he consumes classically Australian foods. Strangely they need to travel to most of the capital cities to do it.

Anchor says it is “The easiest way to make a podcast. Ever.” Well we will just see about that and also see if it is a good fit for you in the classroom. There are three things that make Anchor a bit different than its competition. One, there is no limit to what is hosted. That means no bandwidth limit, no storage limit and no time limit. Go crazy creators. The second thing is that you can “move” your podcast from one site to Anchor. The third thing is that it is completely free. As an educator who has relied on services before, I am a little skeptical about this one but we can discuss that later.

There are mobile apps for iOS and Android but for this post I am going to focus on the online webservice.

Back in the early 1900s, John Dewey promoted the “learning by doing” approach to education, which would later become the foundation of project-based learning (PBL). This framework allows for students to use knowledge from all areas of study to complete a project or task, a process that prepares them for the challenges that they may have to overcome in a future career.

Having a job may seem a lifetime away for a child. But by exposing them to different career paths, we can get them thinking about their life after high school before it’s too late.

As teachers, administrators, or parents, we know how important the future is for our students, and we want to give them an idea of what to expect when the next chapter of their lives begin. But how can we better prepare them for their lives after graduation?

Wednesday is Pi Day, an annual date of celebration in the mathematical community because March 14, or 3/14, using the US convention for dates, looks like 3.14, which is pi to two decimal places.

Pi - usually written as the Greek letter π - is the ‘circle constant’. Take any circle you like. Whatever the size, the ratio of its circumference to its diameter is pi. If you want to know more about this numerical marvel, please scroll down. But first, today’s three puzzles.

After having covered dictionary and language translation apps, we are sharing with you another dictionary app but this time only for science students and teachers. Science Dictionary, as its name indicates, provides definitions of more than 1000,000 scientific terms across different scientific fields including biology, physics, chemistry, geology, oceanography, astronomy, environmental science and many more. It also provides visual illustrations in the forms of diagrams and images. Some scientific terms come with audio pronunciation in both American and British accents so students can learn how to say them.

"As society anticipates a future filled with artificial intelligence, experts are theorizing ways that we humans can outperform the computers that are being programmed to perfection. Some believe educators should focus on building soft skills like empathy and interpersonal communication so humans and robots can complement one another. However, other education thought leaders are ready to beat computers at their own game by teaching people to think like intelligent machines.

Why do so many of our kids struggle with math problem-solving? Because they don’t know where to start; they don’t know how to decompose the problem.

The term for getting humans to think like computers has been coined Computational Thinking, and the idea is taking off. Author Heidi Williams can attest to its popularity after her book on the subject, No Fear Coding Computational Thinking Across the K-5 Curriculum, sold out at the International Society for Technology in Education conference. Inside the book, Williams breaks down computational thinking standards into four parts:

I hope The Creativity Project finds itself into the hands of kids that don’t think they are creators. I hope they find a prompt or a response that gets their wheels turning, and then they pick up a tool (pencil, crayon, computer, saw, pen, paint brush, welder, clay, etc.) and create something that brings them joy.

Computational thinking is the set of skills you need to be able to get computers to do useful things. It includes logical thinking, planning ahead, working with data, being able to give precise instructions and make predictions. There are lots of activities that can help young children aged 4-7 to develop these skills.

Computational thinking skills can be developed through coding but there are lots of other activities that help too. A lot of them are screenless which helps to develop modern skills while also developing other important skills including motor skills and communication.

Some of the ideas here are classic kids games and activities that you might have tried anyway, they just happen to be great for computational thinking skills.

Learning is best done through doing, what is conventionally known as the hands-on approach to learning. What we have for you today are iPad apps that can help students engage in meaningful learning experiences through the use of hands-on activities and exercises. The apps provide a wide variety of learning guides, lessons, videos, tutorials, and several other materials to help students take responsibility of their own learning and become the ‘Do-it yourself masters of anything’.

Sharing your scoops to your social media accounts is a must to distribute your curated content. Not only will it drive traffic and leads through your content, but it will help show your expertise with your followers.

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Distributing your curated content through a newsletter is a great way to nurture and engage your email subscribers will developing your traffic and visibility.
Creating engaging newsletters with your curated content is really easy.